Sixteen Days!!!

Christmas break has begun (I wish the school system still called it that...). I will have 16 days off work. Yes, I still love my job, but there are so many reasons I'm glad to have a few days for things I want/need to do.



1. Christmas shopping! It's a good thing that there are 5 days till Christmas because I have almost nothing done in the gift department. I'm not stressing though..whatever gets done, gets done.



2. Sleeping. I can't wait to have a few days of sleeping late. Actually, I will probably sleep late most of those days, but not today. That's ok, because I got to do item #3.



3. Learn to make tamales!! Love me some tamales! I love to cook and I have always wanted to know how to make them. I was invited to go learn how to make them with my oldest daughter's boyfriend's family. It was my first time to meet E's family and they seem like wonderful people. Plus, they've invited me to come back to help make tamales next year too!



4. Put up the Christmas tree. We finally bought one Thursday night (first chance we had to go look!) and put it up on Friday. We had hot chocolate, crackers, cheese, and summer sausage while we listened to Christmas music (our tradition). Sadly, my teenagers are too old now to think that's cool...so I guess I will have to put on the ornaments myself.



5. Get some serious cleaning done (beginning of the holiday), since my dad and step-mom will be stopping at our house on the way to see some other relatives in a different part of the state.



6. Get some more cleaning done (toward the end of the holiday..house will need it again by then), since we're having bunco at our house on January 8th. Hopefully, I can get something done about the flooring in the livingroom before that. We'll have to see if we have the time or money for that.



7. Bake cookies, maybe cut out sugar cookies with icing. Yummm.


8. Wear jeans. Every.single.day. Yes, even to church (totally fine at our church).


What are you doing?

Brother, can you spare a tree?

Ahh, the great debate...real or artificial Christmas tree??? We've always had an artificial tree. My parents always had the artificial ones and so did D's parents, plus I don't think a real tree would go well with my allergies. So that's just the way it is in our household.

Last night I finally started to pull out our Christmas decorations. I took down the pictures on the mantle, and placed our beautiful new nativity scene (actually it is a one piece statue of Jesus, Mary and Joseph that I got at our bunco gift exchange, love it!) in the center with some other items. Then I went through the big boxes of ornaments and got rid of the ones I never really liked in the first place. I made sure there was a place ready for the tree and my husband asked T if he would go get it for us.

A minute later, T drug in the box and opened it up. No tree. Empty box. Then we remembered. Last year, the tree we'd had for many years was such a hassle to put up and take down that we decided to just throw it out on the curb with the trash. It apparently never crossed our minds to pull the box out of storage and throw it away too. Our plan was to buy a new tree right after Christmas when they are on sale. I'm not sure why we didn't do that.

So, should you happen to throw out your old artificial Christmas tree...and should you happen to decide not to buy a new one right after Christmas, make sure to find a way to remind yourself that you have no tree for next year. I guess I know what I'll be shopping for tonight.

Today

What I did this morning:

Drank coffee while reading blogs of some of the most amazing women in the world. God speaks to me in an incredible way through these and the others listed to the right:

Lila's Journey

Casa de Castro

The Perch

Mourning Into Dancing

What I'm doing next:

Searching for college classes since I think I might like to be a "full fledged teacher" some day. I've got a long way to go and I'm not getting any younger, so I'd better get started.

What I'm doing after that:

Getting dressed and driving up to the community college. Editing to say that I'm glad I checked the hours for the college before driving all the way up there. They are evidently already on a holiday schedule and closed on Saturdays. Oh well, that'll give me more time for what's on the list for later.

What I'm doing later:

Getting my house in order
Finding a way to get my kids to help around the house
Shopping online for Christmas presents (hope there's still time for delivery!)
Teaching my husband how to give me a shoulder massage

What are you doing today?

Just had to pop in and say..

Things are getting better around here. I've put my focus a little more on God and how he's blessed me, and a little less on what my problems are. I thank you all for your prayers and kind words. They mean so very much to me.

It also doesn't hurt that D starts a new job on Monday!!! At the old job, he was hired to do one job and ended up being put into something entirely different. I'm really hopeful that he'll be in a better mood now that his situation is changing. The new job should be a MUCH better fit for him. He will be working with a good friend of his and so he already knows a little bit about how the company works.

The only bad thing is that D was unable to give two weeks notice for various reasons. He's never had to leave a job abruptly like this, so this is very awkward for him. He also has a feeling of failure regarding this job, even though he logically knows that it wasn't his fault. Please take time to say a prayer for him.

Feeling blessed...

There, that's better...

I just had to have another blog background. The other one was nice, just not for me...and since Gretchen had to steal the one I really wanted, this'll do. :)

Pure Joy?

I have never read the book called "The Road Less Traveled", but from what I hear, it is a great book. I started to read it once, and I remember that it begins with a profound statement, "Life is difficult". Sometimes I think we get it into our heads that life should be easier. Why do we think that way?

We definitely aren't promised in The Bible that our lives will be easy. In fact, we are told that our lives here on earth may be quite precarious. However, we are told that we should "consider it pure joy" when we face trials, that it develops perseverance (James 1:2-3). What's up with that? Pure joy???


How many of us consider it pure joy to go through tough times? I know I don't. I have a tendency to whine and complain. Sometimes I can let one little thing knock the wind out of my sails. If I don't do a self check and remind myself of what truly matters, I can find myself dwelling on all that's wrong in my life. I sometimes forget how truly blessed I am.



Maybe I should take a cue from my friend Gretchen who does Glatitude Mondays (love those so much Gretchen!!). I need to be focusing on what's right in my life, not what's wrong. So here goes:

1. I have had enough money to pay my bills for some time now. Praise God, I'm blessed to know how great that is since I've experienced times when I struggled so hard to pay them.

2. I don't have to worry about being too hot or too cold in my home as I have A/C and heating that works fine. I experienced times in my life when I didn't have those.

3. My children have never had trouble passing the TAKS Test in school, which can determine whether a child moves on to the next grade. I have seen so many anxious kids work and work to pass it and still fail.

4. I have friends who care about me and encourage me.

5. I have relatively good health.

6. I have a husband who loves me.

7. I have 3 great kids, including an amazing adult daughter who is also a friend.

8. I love my job!

9. I go to a wonderful church.

10. I have a God who loved me enough to send His Son to die for my sins.

Counting my blessings...

If you don't have something nice to say...

You know the old phrase, "if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all"? Well I guess that has been the theme of my blog here lately. I've been going through a rough time lately and I really don't like to complain all the time, so I've just said nothing. Pretty much the only place I've felt good lately is at work. I really love my job, difficult as it can be, and it has been a respite from what's been going on in my home life.



I know that raising teenagers is a challenge for everyone, and I know that this time will pass. I also know I'll miss my kids terribly when they are no longer in my home, but wow I'm tired of this time right now. I hate that I feel like that.



Things have also been a strain in my marriage. My husband HATES his job and has not been very pleasant to be around for quite some time. Plus, last Tuesday was our 25th anniversary and he did absolutely nothing special to note the occasion. We went out to dinner, but just to a place that is very ordinary for us. And it's not like he didn't know it was important to me that we do something...anything...



I let my husband know I was terribly upset (twice over the course of a few days) about the fact that he doesn't seem to have a romantic bone in his body and that it makes me feel like I'm taken for granted. It honestly makes me wonder how much he really cares about me. He sent me flowers yesterday (6 days after our anniversary), so that's something I guess....



My house is also a complete disaster. I have never been able to get into a routine since I went back to work last year. Since I was a stay-at-home mom for so many years, my kids got used to me doing most things for them. Now that I'm working full time I am SO tired when I get home and can't seem to find the energy to do anything but sit, especially if I go to the effort to actually cook something for dinner.



All of this makes me feel like such a whiner and I am I guess, but it's how I feel. Yes, I do know that there are others out there who have so much more to deal with...I know it could be so much worse. I just want to get back to a place where things don't feel so difficult.

I started this post yesterday and I guess I just needed to get a new perspective. Last night I had a good, long conversation with my mom (that is a blessing in and of itself). We're both going through a couple of things that are similar and I started out talking about how bad things were back in 2002-2004 for me. When I looked back at how difficult things were then (severe depression), I began to see that this time in my life isn't nearly as bad.

I began to realize just how blessed I am, even in the midst of a new difficult time. I don't have the anxiety I had, nor the frequency of panic attacks (now they are very few and far between). I trust God that He does have a purpose for my troubled times even though I stray from his plan for me sometimes. I know that my life is far better now that I do have His peace.

Now I just need to learn to be a little more patient when times are tough and wait for the new mountaintops that will come. Trusting in Him better today...God bless you all!